Mummah the Delegator (Challenge No.65 entry)

AnonyMouse, March 23, 2015; 20:25 / FB 30756
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Mummah the Delegator

The mare trotted down the suburban street, smiling face basking in the warm early spring sun. She was humming a simple fluffy tune to herself, proudly leading her pack to their new task.

"Come on babbehs, fowwow mummah! Get nummies!"

A mix of little cheers came up behind her, and she smiled back at her brood. Behind her were four foals, a red pegasus, a blue pegasus, a yellow unicorn, and a pink earthie. They giggled and hopped along behind her. They knew little of their new task, but trusted their mummah instinctively. Her smile wavered for a brief second as she noticed two more foals should be in the line, but the memory of their deaths reminded her of their permanent absense. She missed them dearly. She perked up her smile again, hoping none of the foals noticed. Only the pink earthie did, and as it opened its mouth to ask, she quickly turned around.

"Come on babbehs, awmost deh!" She said, and the cheers went up again. They stopped at the bottom of a driveway. She turned, and the foals formed a semi-circle around her. They looked up at her with inquisitive looks. She beamed down at them. They were what fluffies would deem "big babbehs". They were about half her size, with their manes and tails grown out. THey were old enough to be eating adult food, which was the reason they were here. The mare had a good month since their birth, finding a good spot with open garbage that she could rummage through. She was able to make as much milk as needed, and then give the foals as much food as they wanted once they could chew on their own. A few days earlier, the garbage was gone, and humans were seen walking around the area constantly, so she had to move on. They needed a new food source.

"Babbehs, fwuffies nee mo nummies. Babbeh gu up to hooman housie and give hoofsie tu human housie and say gib nummies fo mummah an babbehs! Den bwing nummies tu mummah an babbehs." The foals looked at each other, then up to the house, and back to their mother. They looked a little confused, but the red foal popped up onto all fours.

The mare smiled at him. He was always a brave fluffy, always looking for attention from her. She loved him for it. She loved all the foals, each for different reasons. She had promsed herself when she was pregnant to not play favorites, and she found it very easy to do, surprisingly.

"Babbeh gu, mummah! Get nummies!" The red foal shouted, flapping his wings as hard as he could. The mare hugged him.

"Wub babbeh. Gud babbeh. Gu get nummies, and mummah an odda babbehs come and get babbeh when dun."
"Otay mummah!"

The red foal waddled up the driveway to the house, and the mare nudged her foals down the street to the next house.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Mary walked out her front door, tugging her bathrobe belt a little tighter. She walked carefully down the few steps to the walkway, and pulled out her cigarettes. She sighed, looking out over the snow. It had been an awful winter, covering the town in six feet of snow. Only about two feet of it remained, melty and dirty with sand. She could finally see the road down the little hill her house was on. Going up their driveway had been a bitch for a few months thanks to the constant re-freezing of the ice. She was just glad to be able to pull out of the bottom without being afraid of being t-boned.

*BANG BANG BANG*

Mary practically dropped the cigarette as Sam, their golden retriever began jumping against the glass door.

"Goddamit, Sam. You're going to give me a heart attack!" She opened the door, and Sam bounded out, tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth. He dashed off to what her children had taken to calling "the mine ield", which was a 12'x 12' area of lawn that was always snowblowed out so Sam could do his business somewhere that wasn't the driveway. Sam aggressively began smelling his own shit all over the minefield. Mary rolled her eyes at him, and turned back to the driveway.

Her eyes widened. A little tuft of red was coming up the side of the driveway. It took her a second to recognize it was a little fluffy. It was waddling up, shaking its body back and forth like a little idiot, doing that dumb little trot they do when they're trying to hurry but don't want to run.

"Shit!" She said. "Shit shit shit, Sam com....." She reached over to grab Sam's collar, but it was too late. He had seen it.

"RRRROOF! WOOF WOOF WOOF!"

Sam dashed down the walkway to the driveway. Like most golden retrievers, Sam thought everything was a friend, and everything was a toy. Mary flicked the cigarette into the snow and walked as quickly as she could down the walkway, trying as hard as possible to not to fall on the black ice. The red foal finally looked up, pathetically late, to see the dog right above him. Its eyes widened comically large, and it arched its back like a cat.

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" It shrieked, terrified. Yellow piss sprayed out, staining snow and ice on the driveway below it.

"WOOF WOOF WOOF!" Sam barked directly in its face.
"EEEEEE!!!!! PWEASE NU HEW----EEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" The foal screamed as Sam picked it up in his mouth, shaking it back and forth like a rag doll. He then ran down the driveway, and then back up, and then back down again. The foal was screaming hysterically the whole way up and down.

"SAM NO! SAM! GET OVER HERE SAM!" Mary yelled, hoping the neighbors didn't notice. She lunged for Sam's collar again as he went by, but Sam dodged. He dodged a little too well, slipping on the ice and landing on his face. He jumped back up to his feet, and began shaking the fluffy again.

"STOP IT, SAM. I MEAN IT!" Mary yelled again, grabbing his collar. She shook the dog, hoping he would drop it, but it took some prying of the dog's mouth to get him to finally let go. She gave him a smack on the ass, and the dog ran off to the backyard to find his next source of entertainment.

Mary sighed, standing over the red fluffy. It laid limply on its side, breathing heavily. She picked it up, and cradeled it like a baby. Its eyes were rolling back in its head, and was still breathing heavy. At least it was still alive.

"Are you....uh.....are...." She sighed again. She had never spoken directly to a fluffy before, and it felt weird. She sighed again.

"Let's get you inside, I guess."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The mare held the blue foal up to her chest, cooing lovingly at it. It held her tightly, and looked up to her smiling face.

"Babbeh gu nao. Get nummies fo fwuffies. Wub mummah."

It waddled up the driveway, sniffling. The foal missed her mother already, but knew she had to get food for the family. They hadn't eaten for a day, and her stomach was grumbling. After a minute, she was up at the top of the driveway. She peered down the walkway. The stairs to the front door looked awfully tall. She swallowed hard, and lifted a foot to take the journey to the front door.

"WOOF WOOF WOOF"

The sound of a dog barking next door filled the air, and she ran to the backyard, screaming. She hid under a bush, crying. This was not what she expected. She just wanted to find food and bring it home to her mother and brothers so they would all be safe and full and they could hug and sleep comfortably each night. This was not a good start. She considered running down to her mother, but thought of how disappointed she would be. Sure was sure her red brother would succeed. She needed to as well. After a few minutes, she poked her head out. No dogs, no monsters. She did spy a human in the backyard, however. She swallowed, and carefully walked out through the shallower parts of the snow to the man.

*crunch crunch crunch*

Her feet were cold, and pain was starting to shoot up her little legs.

"Nu wike cowd. Wan mummah...." She whispered to herself. Suddenly, the man spun around. He was a tall man, standing in front of a large penned-in area. He was holding a very sharp looking shovel. His face slid from shock down to anger.

"God fucking dammit, seriously?"
"H-h-hewwo nice mistah....gib numm..."
"Fuck you. Seriously, this shit is starting already?" He snapped. "Every goddamn year you fucks show up and start begging and killing plants and shitting everywhere. Usually I have AT LEAST until April until this happens."

The man flung down the shovel in anger, but then after a few seconds let out a large sigh.

"You know what, you want a meal? Go catch it." He reached down for the foal. She screamed and tried to run, but her little legs were no match for the wet snow. He lifted her up by the tail, and tossed her inside the pen, slamming the door behind her. He dusted his hands off of, and walked back inside, chuckling to himself.

The blue foal put her front hooves up on the chicken wire, and yelled for the man.

"Pwease nu weeb babbeh! Nee nummies! Nee mummah! Mummah wait fo babbeh, pwease wet owt! Huuu huuuuu......"

*Cluck cluck cluck*

The foal turned around slowly, trembling, and looked up into the cold black eyes of a half dozen chickens.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

*crunch crunch crunch*

The pink foal hid under a bush, watching a pair of boots walk by. She popped out, and dashed down the walkway, trying her best not to cry.

"HEY! HEY! I FUCKING SEE YOU! YOU'RE DEAD, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

"SCREEEEEEEE!!!!!!!"

The foal could feel shit spewing out of her as she dashed on her little stubby legs down the walkway. She dove right under another bush, feeling the air swish as the man grabbed, and missed. She squeezed down to the middle of the bush, and curled into a ball. The man was now down on his belly in the dirty mud and snow, grasping at her. His hands just barely missed her. After a few swipes, he cut the back of his hand on the barbs under the bush.

"FUCK! Ow, you little shit! Oh, don't you fucking worry, I'll get you eventually. You can't stay under there forever. I know you've been the one shitting on my porch!"

And just as quickly as he appeared, the man was gone. The pink foal began wailing.

"Mummaaaaaaaah! Hewp babbeh! Huuuuuu......."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The yellow unicorn looked back when he got halfway up the driveway. His mother was at the bottom still, waving to him.

"Mummah! Babbeh be wite back!"
"Otay babbeh! Mummah gu next housie an get nummies! Mummah den wait fo babbeh!"

The foal turned away from his mother and wandered up to the front door. He scrambled up the short steps, and looked up to the large metal door. He swallowed, and tapped on the bottom of it.

*bang bang bang*

He waited patiently, but got no answer. He looked down the driveway to see that his mother had left. His heart filled with fear, but he tried again.

*bang bang bang*

He took a step back, and felt the tears welling up in his eyes. He had failed. There would be no num...

The door swung open, and the foal had barely enough time to duck as it passed over his head.

"Eep!" He squeaked. He looked up and felt his legs begin to quiver under him. There stood a woman, looking back and forth, confused. She finally looked down, and gasped. She put a hand on her chest and her mouth opened in a silent gasp.

The foal gathered up all his courage, and spoke.

"H-h-hewwo nice wady....gib babbeh nummies? Nu nummies fo so wong, nee nummies fo mummah and odda babbehs...."

The woman's face turned into a loving smile.

"Oh, you poor little thing. You look so scared. Of course I can give you some food." She looked around, and saw no other fluffies, despite the mention of a family. She shrugged, and scooped up the foal.

"Come on in, little baby."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The pink foal carefully walked along the edge of the house, towards the garbage cans. She walked around and around them, trying to find a way to get inside. She had seen her mother get food out of the trash before, but the trick was eluding her. She put her front hooves up on the can, and tried pushing. No luck. A week of thawing and re-freezing had firmly stuck the cans into the small layer of ice on the ground.

"AHA! NOW I HAVE YOU!"

The foal felt her body tense up, but the man was running towards the bush she had left minutes earlier. He was swinging a broom around his head like a madman, and got down on his stomach, jabbing the underside as hard as he could.

"TAKE THAT! AND THAT! AND THAT! AND.....huh?"

He stopped, looking around under the bush, finally noticing that she was gone.

"Da fuck? Must have run off."

The foal slowly lowered her front hooves to the ground. To her horror, the light ice there crackled under the weight. The man's head whipped around, and their eyes locked.

"AHA!"

"EEEEE! HUUU HUUU NU HEWTIES PWEEEEASE!" She screamed as she ran as fast as she could to the backyard. She could hear the thumping of feet running behind her. She made a last second decision and squeezed under the back porch. It was a large porch, with screened paneling underneath. She had been just lucky enough to be in front of a panel where something had dug a hole big enough underneath for her to get under.

"FUCK! RARG!"

The foal felt a sharp pain in her side and tumbled. She looked back to see the man had been quick enough to jab her with the broom through the hole. Sobbing, she waddled as far back away from the screened panels as she could.

"Oh, just you wait. Just you fucking wait. I have you cornered now!"

The man ran to one of the panels which was outfitted as a door. He fumbled with the lock for a few seconds.

"Shit! Fucking frozen again. Goddamn shitty Chink combination locks!" He stood there for a few seconds, panting.

"Fine, whatever. I'll get you eventually, you little shit."

He stomped off, leaving her in silence once again. The foal, sobbing and leaning in to her damaged side, limped even further back into the porch. There was a dark corner where snow had blown up against the screen, leaving it mostly in darkness. She laid down, feeling warm and soft. She smiled, despite her pain. This wasn't so bad. In fact, it felt a lot like...

The foal looked down, and peered into the grey eyes of the fluffy corpse she accidently snuggled with.

"SCREEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Anna kicked off her shoes and walked up the stairs inside her house. Cradled in her arms was the little yellow foal, looking up at her with uncertain eyes. She smiled down at him.

"You're a pretty one. Are you a boy or girl?"
"A-a-am boy fwuffee...."
"And did your mother given you a name?"
"N-n-n-u...mummah saw good hoomans gib gud fwuffees name...."

She stopped on the stairs, and scratched her chin.

"Hmmm....how about.....Mac?" She chuckled. "Your yellow fur and yellow mane make you look like a box of Mac and Cheese."

The newly dubbed Mac felt a strange feeling. A swelling of love and pride as he looked at up the woman. It was a weird feeling, and overpowering sense came flowing over him. Before he knew it, the words were coming out of his mouth.

"Mac wub name! Be nu mummah? Gib housie?"

He gasped. Where did that come from? It was almost like someone else was speaking for him. But the feeling was still there, and it was flooding him with emotions he had never felt before. He loved his woman, his new mummah. It all felt so right. But no! He had a mummah! And they needed food! That was why he was here! He had to....

"Oh, Mac. Of course! You won't believe it, but you have great timing." She said grinning as she stepped up to the top of the stairs. There she stood, in front of the living room, holding the little yellow unicorn. Her husband and preteen daughter looked up at her.

"John, Kelly, look what just showed up at our front door."

Kelly gasped, and jumped out of her chair. "Awwwww, mom! She's beautiful!"

"B-b-b-buh am boy fwuffy! Nu giwl!" Mac protested softly, almost in a whisper.

Both women laughed, and Anna passed the foal over to Kelly, who hugged him gently. Mac nuzzled his face into her body, feeling the warmth of the hug. It felt so good. But no! This was not why he was here!

"N-n-nice wady.....gib nummies? Nee nummies fo mu...."
"Oh baby, you must be so hungry! Hold on!"

Anna quickly went to the kitchen and came back out with a small bowl of Cheerios. She placed it down on the floor, and Kelly lowered Mac down in front of it. He looked at it nervously.

"N-n-nummies? Fo babbeh and mummah?"
"Awww, baby, you don't have to share with me! It's all for you!" Anna said, stroking his fluff. "Poor thing, he must have had to share with other fluffies out there."

Mac began to protest, but the sweet sugar smell of the Cheerios wafted up to his nose. He felt the drool pooling up in his mouth.

Anna and Kelly grinned down at the foal as he chomped away hungrily.

"Wow, Mom. We were talking about getting one yesterday, and look what shows up today!"
"I thought the same thing when I saw him! And he's so clean! They're usually so dirty when they're wild!"
"Can we keep him?"
"John, what do you think?"

John looked up from his magazine. "Sure, but it's up to the kids to take care of it, like I said yesterday." He peered down at the foal, who was licking the sugary dust off the bottom of the bowl. He smiled to himself. A unicorn with a solid color? He just saved himself a good amount of money.

Peter, their teenage son, walked down the hall towards the commotion. He froze in his tracks at the sight of the fluffy.

"No way! Mom, did you seriously already pick one up?"
"No, he just showed up this morning."
"Are we going to keep him?"
"Yes, but remember what we talked about last night about taking care of him."
"Sweeeeeeet! The guys are going to be so jealous when they see we have a unicolor unicorn!"

Peter got down to Mac's level and smiled at him.

"Hey little dude, what's your name?"

That feeling rushed up in Mac's belly again. He knew why he was here and what he needed to do, but the words forced their way out again.

"Fwuffee am Mac. N-nu fwiend?"

He shook his head. What was happening? Why did he say that? He needed to....

"Hi Mac, I'll be your new daddy! Do you like to play?"

The feeling, which was overpowering before, exploded in his head and heart, and he couldn't contain it anymore.

"BABBEH WUB PWAY!" He shouted, jumping up and down. All of the humans laughed.

Minutes later, the two children were sitting on the kitchen floor, rolling a tennis ball back and forth between them. Mac did his best to catch it as it went by, giggling like a little maniac. The children giggled nearly as much, both smiling ear to ear. John stood leaning in the doorway, smiling. He couldn't believe his luck.

Hours later, Kelly and Anna sat on the bay window, watching the sun slowly begin to set outside. Mac laid in Kelly's lap, cooing. They had played and played, and then had a big spagetti dinner. Mac was a good fluffy, thankfully and openly appreciative. He found himself often remembering the need to bring food down the driveway to his family, but it kept slipping further and further from his mind. In his moment, with a full belly and a warm lap, his family was the furthest thing from his mind.

"We are so lucky, mom. Who would have thought?"
"Well, maybe someone out there is looking out for us."
"Hah, I think God has better things to do than send fluffies to doorsteps."

Anna shrugged. She pitied Mac. He probably had a tough childhood. He probably had to fight for food. He probably had to watch family members die. If he had to come begging to a doorstep, it was probably pretty bad. That's about as dangerous a thing as a fluffy could do. She eyed something moving at the end of the driveway.

"Oh look, there's another one. Looks like a black fluffy."

Mac's ears perked up. His mother was a black fluffy!

"MOMMA!" He yelled, leaping out of Kelly's lap. He pressed his face and front hooves to the glass of the window. His eyes adjusted to the lowering light and....it was her!

"What's wrong, baby, I'm right here!" Anna asked softly, stroking his fluff.

"Mumma! Mumma! Babbeh hewe! Babbeh hewe! Babbeh fin nummies! Gud hoomans! Mummah!"

The shape stayed still at the bottom of the driveway.

"Do....do you think that's his fluffy mother, mom?" Kelly asked.
"Mummah! Babbeh hewe! Nu can see babbeh? Babbeh hewe!" He said, tapping the glass with his hooves. "Mummah? *tap tap tap* Mummah? *tap tap* ......MUMMAH? WHEHE MUMMAH GU? MUMMAH NU WEEB BABBEH!"

Kelly squinted, and could see the black shape walking down the street.

"MUMMAH! MUMMAH! NU WEEB BABBEH! BABBEH HEWE! MUMMAH! MUUUMMMMAMAAAAHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEAAAAEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Mac's calls to his mother turned to high pitched squealing and shrieking as he saw his mother walk alone down the street. He pounded his hooves as hard as he could against the glass again and again, occasionally hitting his face as well as he screamed hysterically.

"EEEAAAAAAEEHEHHHHHHHHH MUMMAH NU WEEEEEB WHY WEEB BAAAAAAAHUUUUUUUUUUUUUHUUHUUUUUUUUU!!!"

Anna carefully scooped up Mac, pulling his now bloody face away from the window. She tried to turn him to hug him, but he began violently kicking at her with all four legs.

"NU!! NUU!!! NU MUMMAH! WAN FWUFFEE MUMMAH! MAC BWING NUMMIES TU FWUFFEES! NU EAT NUMMIES AWONE HUU HUUUUUU BABBEH SU SOWWY MUMMAH! FWUFFEE NU MEAN TU FOWGET MUMMAAAAAAAA NU WEAAABBBB HUUUUUUU COME BACK TU BABBEH HUUUUU!!!!"

Mac slowly went limp, whimpering, letting Anna hug him close, his tears mixing in with his blood, leaving dirty drips on the floor and Anna's shirt.

"Shhhhhh, baby. It's ok. We'll be your family now. You'll never be sad again....."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The mare looked up the driveway to the bay windows. She saw two pretty humans there, with her yellow baby in one of their laps. They saw her, and she waved to her baby. She could barely see from the street, but it looked like the baby was smiling and waving back. She smiled, and quickly trotted down the street, and hid under a bush. She squatted and let the shit gush out of her. She knew he had to find a safe place to do this. She cried a thankful but remorseful cry, glad to find her yellow baby had found a good home with good humans and was happy. That was her real plan. As a pregnant mare, the other mares in their safe place had taught her all she needed to know in emergencies. Humans love foals. When one shows up on their doorstep, they will take it in and love it and hug it and give it food. Humans don't want adults. Humans dont want old, sick fluffies. They don't want families. They want cute, beautiful foals. She had gone past the other three houses after finding herself a little bit of food, and but hadn't seen anything. She was sure they had found homes just like the yellow one. She was sure of it.

After a minute of what seemed like non-stop shit, she turned and looked at it, sadly looking at the little white worms inside it. The mares had taught her something else in that time. The worms meant the end was coming. When they had shown up a week earlier, she knew she had to think of a way to ensure her family's survival, and soon. This was it. And it had worked! All foals were safe. All foals had love and hugs. All foals had nummies. She was a good mother.

The mare pulled herself out of the bush, and walked down the street, looking for a final place to rest.